What is Energy?

The ability to do work.

2005 CO2 Emissions USA

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We use energy to do a lot Here’s the breakdown of how it’s

used:

Where does our energy come

from?

Can energy be “made”?

ENERGY CAN NOT BE CREATED NOR DESTROYED

The 1st law of thermodynamics says that….

So….How do we get our energy?

It can be CONVERTED…..

From potential to kinetic energy

Here’s an example:

So what form is our energy converted from?

Most of our energy comes from CHEMICAL ENERGY that is stored

in FOSSIL FUELS

•Coal

•Oil

•Natural Gas

COAL Where does it come Where does it come from ?from ?

•Coal was once plant material

•and the plants got their energy from….

•The SUN

How do we extract the coal?

We sink mine-shafts into the earth….

…or we can use “Open-Cast” mining.

Mountain Top Removal

video

Much of the world’s energy still comes from coal.

• The US generates ½ its electricity from coal

• it’s cheap & plentiful

What are the advantages of using coal?

•There’s plenty of it

•It’s relatively cheap

•Our conventional power stations are designed to use it.

What are the disadvantages of using coal?

•Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels.

•When burned, it produces emissions that contribute to global warming, create acid rain and pollute water •Damage to water,

buildings, wildlife, & habitat

•Dangerous to Miners•There have been 104,000 deaths in US mines since 1900

•29 miners died in 2012 in West Virginia.

Clean Coal Technology

Seeks to reduce harsh environmental effects by using multiple technologies to clean coal and contain its emissions.

Moran Plant in Burlington, VT

1954-1986

Millions of years ago, the dead bodies of living things settled to the bottom of the ocean. As they were buried, the remains turned slowly into OIL.

The oil is trapped in pockets in the rock.

Oil is pumped up from deposits deep underground.

Sometimes the oil rigs are off-shore.

Next it is refined and turned into a range of different fuels.

What are Oil’s advantages?

•It’s easy to transport

•It’s easy to store

•It’s easy to use

We use a lot of it:

But what are the disadvantages?

If an accident occurs…..

A tanker wreck causes catastrophic pollution

Kuwait Oil Fires in 1991

Oil isn’t found everywhere

Consequently wars are fought for it:

And extraction can harm ecosystems: Ex. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

NATURAL GAS….

…FROM THE SAME SOURCES AS OIL

Natural gas can also be used as a fuel to generate heat, and from that, electricity

Frackingoverview

• Define fracking and explain the process in general.

•What are some possible environmental impacts of fracking?

•Explain why some people are concerned about the fracking process.

•Do you think that gas drilling companies should be compelled to tell the public which chemicals they are using? Why or why not?

•What scientific evidence so far suggests a possible link between fracking and human illness?

• How would you design an investigation to establish a possible link between fracking and negative impacts on human health?

But burning ANY fossil fuel causes pollution and the carbon dioxide adds to the “greenhouse effect”...

Cars are amongst the worst polluters… but what’s the alternative?

Industry pollutes the air with sulphur dioxide

Oil refineries….

Just about everywhere, we are pouring pollutants out into the air

So, no matter what fossil

fuel we use to make

electricity, it can be

contributing to global

warming.

…and acid rain.

….and what about NUCLEAR power?

-using nuclear reactions to produce energy for commercial use.

-Involves nuclear fission– the splitting of the nucleus of a large atom into two or more smaller nuclei.

-This involves a release of a lot of heat energy which can be used to generate electricity.

Nuclear power has advantages in that the fuel lasts a long time.

But the disadvantage is that the used fuel is very dangerous and there is always the risk of radiation leaks causing cancer.

Vermont Yankee

•Located in Vernon, Vermont on the banks of the Connecticut River•VY provides over 1/3 of Vermont's electricity.•Since acquiring VY in 2002, Entergy has saved its New England customers about $250 million. •VYemploys 650 people •VY also generates more than $100 million in economic benefits through payroll, taxes and local purchases.•The large amount of power - 650 megawatts - produced at VY reduces the need to build other power plants that emit pollutants and greenhouse gasses.

• VY has 76 documented cracks in its steam dryer • There have been 3 fires in VY's transformer

station. • One fire resulted in the loss of a critical

reactor-cooling pump. • Entergy has violated the Clean Water Act

because it is increasing the temperature of the Connecticut river several degrees in winter, threatening native fish and other wildlife.• VY's storage system for radioactive waste

fuel is dangerously overcrowded. • Because there is no viable waste storage

solution, Entergy will be indefinitely storing its radioactive waste on the banks of the Connecticut River.

The Opposition:•Vermont Yankee is one of the oldest nuclear power plants in the country•The nuclear facility is running at 20% above its designed capacity

More Recently:• A tritium leak was found in January 2010• Vermont Senate voted overwhelmingly in February 2011 to shut the plant in 2012 when its operating license expires•Last spring a group of senators announced that they will attempt to reverse this decision.

•They claim that over 1000 jobs will be lost if Yankee closes•The opposition claims that developing renewables would start creating more jobs by 2024 than would keeping Vermont Yankee open without also developing renewables.

•Last fall, a federal court ruled that Vermont Yankee could keep running despite a decision by state Legislature to the contrary• Yesterday (5/1/12) the Public Service Board request for a certificate of public good allowing the nuclear power plant to operate for another 20 years.

Japan’s Nuclear Disaster

Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Energy are considered to be Nonrenewable Resources

•substances in limited supply that cannot be replaced.

SO WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT

IT?

USE MORE RENEWABLE RESOURCES

NOTE: these are NOT “reusable” resources - NO fuel can be re-used! It just means they can be replaced

-- substances that can be replaced

Examples of Renewable Resources

• the WIND

• the SUN (heat and light)

• BIOMASS (vegetation, manure)

• GEOTHERMAL (earths heat)

• WATER (hydroelectric, tides, waves)

WIND POWER

The KINETIC energy of the wind turns the blades of the windmill….

…and converts it into ELECTRICAL ENERGY

Advantages:

Clean and quiet

Cheap, once set up

Low maintenance

Disadvantages: Expensive equipment

Needs wind to work

An “eyesore”?

Disrupts animal habitat

Wind turbine to power Hinesburg libraryPublished: Monday, April 9, 2007

• Several years ago, a small wind turbine will be installed in Hinesburg's Geprags Park that powers the library.

• The turbine used a grant from Vermont Department of Public Service and cost about $25,000.

•"You should build small wind turbines like you build cars -- you should be building thousands of them, not hundreds," Blittersdorf said. "That's what's necessary to get the cost down."

Lowell Mountain

• Green Mountain Power plans to erect 21 wind turbines, each rising to 459 feet from the ground to the tip of the blades.

• 75 percent of voters in the town of Lowell supported the project, and 90 percent of Vermonters support wind, 74 percent strongly.

• To mitigate the effect of the 175-acre development, more than 2,000 acres of prime animal habitat will be conserved.

• Vermont’s importing almost 90 percent of its energy

The SUN - SOLAR POWERLIGHT energy is converted directly to ELECTRICITY in a photovoltaic cell

Advantages:

Clean - no pollutants

Cheap, once set up

Low maintenance

Disadvantages: Expensive equipment

Only good if there’s lots of sunshine

BIOMASS: Growing plants for fuel (like wood), or using animal manure to make natural gas.Advantages:

Easy to grow more

Relatively cheap

Existing power stations can be adapted

Disadvantages: Lots of land used

Still causes some pollution

Cow Power

• http://www.cvps.com/cowpower/How%20It%20Works.html

Benefits Cow Power farms can experience:

• Reduces odor

• Fewer water-quality impacts

• Harnesses farm methane, which is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than CO2

•Fewer aesthetic concerns •These generators integrate well into farm landscapes.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

Heat from deep in the earth used to heat waterAdvantages: Clean

Cheap once set up

Disadvantages: Expensive to set up

Not suitable everywhere

“Upcoming forum gets down with geothermal” Burlington Free Press, April 11th, 2009

•In Vermont, the ground remains at a steady 50-or-so-degrees, winter and summer.•Underground water will both cool and heat the building•Champlain College just installed a well for one of their buildings.

WATER POWER

The POTENTIAL ENERGY of water high up in the mountains is converted into MOVEMENT

Dams are built to keep back a large volume of water

TURBINES convert the KINETIC ENERGY of the water into ELECTRICITY

This is HYDROELECTRICITY

Advantages of Water Power: Clean

Renewable/plentiful

Relatively cheap

Disadvantages of Water Power Expensive to set up

Disrupts habitat

Disrupts aquatic life

A “TIDAL FENCE” or a can be set up to harness the energy of the water movement as the tide comes in and out of an estuary

Ocean Power

Turbines like “water-mills” are being set up to generate electricity

This is what the off-shore

wave-farm could be like.

What sort of Energy Resources will you CAC use?

Electric Power USA 2005

Who knows what the

future may bring

The end

By R. G. Smith. Feb 2004

Updated by K. Abbott April 2011